Spartanburg County sheriff's deputy killed

Spartanburg - Kevin Carper worked second shift Tuesday, the ninth anniversary of his graduation from the police academy.

The Spartanburg County sheriff's deputy was supposed to get off at midnight, when the 39-year-old husband and father of three girls would have returned to his family at their Moore home.

But Mr. Carper's shift ended at 10 p..m. with a bullet to the chest, shot by a man who fled from a traffic stop near Wellford.

The state Legislature adjourned in his honor Wednesday. The flag flying in front of the Sheriff's Office lowered to half-staff. Wreaths of white and blue flowers popped up at law enforcement agencies and the county courthouse.

At the Sheriff's Office, Mr. Carper's colleagues continued their work with red, weary eyes and exhausted faces. They pinned blue ribbons to their uniforms in memory of the first officer to die in the line of duty in Spartanburg County since 1967.

Sheriff Chuck Wright, exhausted from little sleep, listened to phone message after phone message from locals and other sheriffs calling to express condolences:

"We're praying for you."

Visitation for Spartanburg County sheriff's deputy Kevin Carper will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Floyd's Greenlawn Chapel.

"Keep your chin up."

"If there's anything you need, call me."

Even U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham made a call to Wright, expressing his condolences. One man stopped by the crime scene to express his sorrow to a deputy standing guard.

The Sheriff's Office lost a hero Tuesday night, Sheriff Wright said. They lost a man who "gave everything he had to protect the citizens of this county."

"I pray for these officers every day," the sheriff's said. "And there are men and women in this community that get on their knees every single day praying for our safety. And it just really hurts when we have one of our own taken away from us like that."

The man believed to have shot Mr. Carper after a traffic stop, Terry Lee Brooks of Inman, also died after Mr. Carper and a second deputy returned gunfire. Mr. Brooks died at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.

Mr. Carper died at the scene of the shooting, in a wooded area next to a Wellford mobile home park. He leaves behind his wife, Andrea, and three young daughters. His youngest child is 6 months old.

The Southern States Police Benevolent Association Inc. has established a memorial fund in honor of slain Spartanburg County sheriff's deputy Kevin Carper.

Donations may be made to the Kevin Carper Memorial Fund at any Wachovia branch in Spartanburg. More information is available by calling (800)-233-3506, Ext. 735.

‘A natural cop'

As a teenager, Carper took up with a friend his same age, Troy Skinner, while living in Meridian, Miss. Their families had worked together for a General Motors plant in Indiana, when it relocated several employees to Mississippi in the early 1980s.

At 16 and in Meridian, there wasn't much to do, said Mr. Skinner, on the phone from his current home in Terre Haute, Ind.

But they went to high school together, where they played basketball their junior and senior years. "He was the fastest kid I ever played ball with," Mr. Skinner said.

Mr. Carper got a job at a Navy base in Meridian, and later worked in Pensacola, Fla., Mr. Skinner said.

But all the time he had his sights set on law enforcement.

"He always told me he was going to be a cop," Mr. Skinner said. "And I asked him, ‘Why? You don't get any money. You get shot at. You don't get any respect.' And he said that's just what he wanted to do. He got that job in Spartanburg, and he loved every minute of it, through the good times and the bad."

Mr. Carper came to the Sheriff's Office in Spartanburg County in 1997, before he began police academy training. Lt. Russell Lynch, later his supervisor, remembers the rookie cop well.

"He wanted to learn," Mr. Lynch said. "He knew the academy wasn't the end of an education."

"When he finally got turned loose on the shift, he was just a good solid officer who made the right decision most of the time, and if he needed guidance he called a supervisor," Mr. Lynch said. "He caught onto it quick. He was a natural. He was just a natural cop."

The two men bonded in October 2001, when Mr. Carper fired the shot that wounded a 13-year-old girl during a gunfire exchange between deputies and the live-in boyfriend of the girl's mother. That man, William Charles Seich, began shooting at deputies after killing the girl's mother.

The important thing, Mr. Lynch told officers at roll call that next day, was that Mr. Carper was still with them.

Wednesday morning, Mr. Lynch again gave his officers a morning talk. This time, it was to explain why Mr. Carper didn't make it.

"It's just devastating, devastating," Mr. Lynch said. "It's a huge loss for the county and the family, certainly. And I just … want everyone to know we got a whole department full of Kevin Carpers up here. Their positions and demeanors are different, but they're all good people."

After a long night, Mr. Lynch returned to his wife and children at 5 a.m. Wednesday. He took a special moment to stop by the bed of his 5-year-old son.

"I spent a little extra time looking at him this morning, and I was just thinking about Kevin's kids," he said. "And I'm sure a lot of deputies said the same this morning before they came to work."

Mr. Carper was involved in a shooting in 2004, when he killed John Harris, on the county's Most Wanted List at the time, after a chase. He shared his feelings about the shootings with Mr. Skinner, his childhood friend.

"We talked about it, but everything that he always did, he felt he was justified in doing, so it never bothered him in the aspect of being wrong," Mr. Skinner said. "As long as he thought he was right, he was OK with everything."

"He's just kind-hearted," Mr. Skinner added. "He had some run-ins within his job, but outside his line of duty, Kevin wouldn't hurt a flea."

Family man

Carper and his wife married March 4, 2000, at St. James United Methodist Church. They had three children under age 13 – Kyleigh, Andrea's daughter whom Carper later adopted – Mary Kate and Caroline, who was born Aug. 30 of last year.

Skinner said Carper and his wife were thinking about buying a house, and he'd spoken with him in recent weeks answering questions about mortgage rates and such.

Carper was a sports fan, a family man and a regular church attendee. The family had attended the church for eight years, said St. James pastor Smoke Kanipe.

"He was always here every Sunday," the reverend said. "He was a very faithful and dedicated member of the church. He was, I think, in some ways a quiet person, so we never talked about his work."

Carper and his wife were involved in church activities, especially those his children were involved with, and had signed up to chaperone a weekend confirmation retreat in April at Lake Junaluska.

"He was a wonderful friend," Kanipe said. "He was very loving, very compassionate – had a lot of fun with his children and enjoyed them. He was a wonderful husband. He and Andrea had a wonderful marriage."

Caroline hasn't even been baptized yet. Although her father can't attend, Kanipe said, the church knows he'll be there in spirit.

Carper's family declined interviews Wednesday, preferring to spend the day with each other.

Wright said he spoke with Carper's wife early Wednesday to inform her of her husband's death.

"She's very broken up now, obviously," the sheriff said. "Her three daughters are, her family members are, and we must pray for this family. We've got to hold them up right now. It was very difficult last night to tell her that Kevin has perished."

He's never had to give that talk before. But Wright said he worries most for Carper's family.

"I can tell you that he loved his wife and children," he said. "And I can tell you he was happy at home because he would come to work very happy. And you cannot have a relationship problem at home and come to work happy – you just can't do it."

Always a smile

Carper's coworkers used the same phrases over and over to describe their fallen colleague.

Always had a smile on his face.

Eager to help.

Never in a bad mood.

"I never saw the man without a smile on his face," Wright said. "I just didn't. He just was one of those guys, that when he came through your door, you were glad to see him."

Yet he was humble – once, when presented with a deputy-of-the-month award, he said other officers were more worthy.

Deputy Bill Kish, a warrant officer who knew Carper and rode with him off and on, called him a driven man.

"He just worked hard," Kish said. "He really believed in what he was doing and he genuinely felt he was making a better world for his kids to grow up in."

He talked about his family a lot, and he loved his girls.

As with other officers, it was hard for Kish to go to work Wednesday.

"We're just going to miss him really bad," he said. "It's tough to put it into words. It's tough to imagine him not coming to work tonight."

Carper did all jobs with no complaints, his colleagues said.

"He was the guy you could tell to go stand in an intersection and I'd be back in three days to get you, and he'd be right there," Wright said, his mood brightening out of the fog for a split second.

But Carper's death has brought officers closer together, the sheriff said.

"A lot of them, they're devastated, obviously," he said. "But they are pulling together, and you're hearing officers tell the other one, ‘Hey man, I really love you and I pray for you and care for you.' "

It was a message to go on, to continue serving the community as Carper did.

For Rev. Kanipe, Wednesday was also a time for reflection.

"There are people like firefighters and sheriff's deputies who take all kinds of risks for us and we just take that for granted," he said. "We don't think about it until a time like this. A tragedy like this makes us realize what people are doing for us all the time."